Publicly-Financed Home Care for the Disabled Elderly: Who Would Be Eligible?

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the variability in estimates of disability in the U.S. elderly population as a function of differing definitions of physical disability and cognitive impairment. Differing cut-off points along the disability continuum are employed, in conjunction with the varied definitions of disability, in order to demonstrate their effect on the number and types of persons eligible under a uniform federal home care benefit. [23 PDF pages]